The Prairie by James Fenimore Cooper Ishmael and his family, Ellen and Abiram, are slowly making their way across the virgin Prairies of the American Midwest. They are looking for a homestead two years after the Louisiana Purchase, when they meet trapper Natty Bumppo. Natty has left New York state to find a home where he cannot hear the forests being cut down. He has walked coast to coast, to the Pacific Ocean (although Lewis and Clark hadn't yet completed that trek). After a theft, the trapper helps the family relocate their wagons, including one with mysterious contents. The book was first published in 1827. The novel's timeline is 1804. This is book 5 of 5 in the Leatherstocking Tales, the sequel to The Last of the Mohicans, The Pathfinder and The Pioneers.